Netflix announced back in July of this year that it is choosing Microsoft as its advertising partner for a new advertising-supported subscription service. However, it seems like this partnership may turn into something else next year, where Microsoft is speculated to buy Netflix altogether.
In an opinion piece, Reuters said on Tuesday that they believe Microsoft will continue its business buying spree in 2023 and will add Netflix to its shopping list. “Microsoft’s chief executive has been buying new businesses at an impressive clip. Look for him to add Netflix to the list in 2023”, the opinion piece read.
While it isn’t confirmed by any means, it does look like a possibility considering both companies are already closely related at this point. Reuters also pointed out Nadella’s shopping spree, starting with the $2.5 billion acquisition of the developer behind Minecraft, LinkedIn acquisition for $26 billion and also agreed to a deal to acquire gaming giant Activision Blizzard at $69 billion. However, the firm is facing some issues in completing the acquisition of the “Call of Duty” creator.
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“Even if Nadella loses out on the video-game company for competition reasons, however, owning Netflix would make strategic sense and probably be an easier sell in Washington and Brussels”, read the report.
Furthermore, the report talked of another similarity between the two companies where Microsoft wants to offer a video-game streaming service over multiple devices and Netflix is already doing that via its gaming service to some extent. “With a market value 13 times that of Netflix, as of early December, $1.8 trillion Microsoft can afford Netflix,” the piece added.